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✏️ certainsound.net

Just published: an interview with SLUG BEAT, a new psych-fusion techno-jazz band by three key players in the American freak music underground: SUG, KIERNAN LAVEAUX, and JOHNNY ZOLOFT.  SLUG BEAT sounds a little bit like if BORIS had a DJ, or if MASSIVE ATTACK were a scuzzy jazz-punk trio. OK neither of those are accurate tbh but you sort of get the idea, maybe.

The band are actually recreating a record SUG made two years ago—and our conversation goes deep on listening, improvisation, partnership and collaboration. We get a little philosophical with it you know.

I think if you appreciate music at the edges where boundaries dissolve into one another, you will enjoy this record and this interview.

As always, the full read is available at: certainsound.net

Thanks for reading!

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The latest Do/While is out in the wild! Listen link in ye olde bio 🔗

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Shenandoah 🐻 into ZAP ⚡️ part 1

Got to get a much needed escape from the Burgh and go off into the mountains for a couple of days! Started with a night of tranquil camping and a day of hiking in Shenandoah National Park. Then had a zany couple of days of music with friends at ZAP!

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SLUG BEAT SELF TITLED ALBUM OUT NOW - LINK IN BIO TO PURCHASE

Feel that rumbling in your hips? Your favorite raver tried to warn you about their favorite band. But the truth is, you could never truly prepare for the cosmic groove music revolution that is Slug Beat.

There’s nowhere to run from the liquid dub of album opener “Slug Beat” and smooth metal of “Pleasure Center.” Nowhere to hide from the smoldering swing of “Sensory Leakage” and Medium Rare Groove, perfectly done, of “Is This Heaven?” Yet there’s everywhere to dance to the purple psyche fusion of “This One’s for the Lovers (In the World).”

We’re all asking ourselves how this happened. Late in 2024, Sug recruited JZKL’s Kiernan Laveaux and Johnny Zoloft to embark on a solemn mission to transform the Ableton compositions behind Sug’s 2024 Lizard Label solo release Slug Beat into live band party music. Over the course of a year, the core trio played those tunes on guitar, drums, and CDJs to bars, warehouses, and listening rooms across the Northeast and Midwest. And sure enough, those tunes evolved into A New Thing. The trio took to Tempo House studios in Baltimore in December 2025 to lay down interpretations of four tracks from the Lizard Label release and one from Sug’s Fusion Edits, with Johnny Zoloft on drums, congas and marimba, Kiernan Laveaux on electronics and vocals, and Sug on guitar and keyboards. What you hear now is 45 minutes of arcane synergy, supernatural radiance, and extrasensory possibility manifested through the amorphous vessel that is Slug Beat.

Arrangements and mixing were inspired by Sonny Sharrock’s Ask the Ages, an album deeply imprinted on the group’s collective consciousness. Performance cues were taken from Archie Shepp, Annette Peacock, Anteloper, grunge era Neil Young & Crazy Horse, and Nightlife Unlimited.

Thank you for asking the question

Kiernan Laveaux: electronics and vocals

Johnny Zoloft: drums and percussion

Sug: guitar and keyboard

Produced and written by Sug

Recorded by Craig Bowen at Tempo House in Baltimore, MD

Mixed by Sug and Johnny Zoloft

Mastered by Russell E. L. Butler
Art and layout by Wayne Beers
Thank you Lifted, Lizard Label, and Benny Boeldt

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Charmera Lately

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SLUG BEAT & PAMELA & HER SONS - LIVE AT L&SD TAPE NOW AVAILABLE DIRECT FROM @slug_zone @pamela__ahs @kiernanlaveaux @johnnyzoloft

SLUG BEAT & Pamela & her sons are proud to present an audio document of the performance they shared at @lightandsounddesign in NYC March 2025, alongside a stellar lineup of Matthew Regula & Bookworms + Alex Zhang Hungtai duo

Side A contains 38minutes of arcane material from SLUG BEAT - the psychedelic fusion ensemble brought to life here by SUG on guitar, JOHNNY ZOLOFT on drums, & KIERNAN LAVEAUX on samples/vocals/FX

Performing smash hits such as “Slug Beat”, “Pleasure Center”, “Sensory Leakage”, & “This One’s For The Lovers In the House” plus more to also be heard on their forthcoming SLUG BEAT: THE ALBUM to be released later in 2026, this performance found the trio at the height of their manifestation abilities concluding a Northeast tour, & set a new chapter towards exploring the beguiling essence of what SLUG BEAT can be 🐌🌀✨

SLUG BEAT live set also now streaming on soundcloud for any previewing & listening pleasures!!! Check out audio previews in slides

SIDE B contains Pamela & her sons closing set from the night, with their supple & entrancing dreamscapes punctuated by ever-evolving inspirations, breakbeat sciences, & cloudlike nimbostratus kinetics. More of what you’ve come to know & love from PAHS decade+ as a vagabond synthesist serenading the masses that are willing to listen. 🌤️💫😎

Available NOW on beautiful orange tape dubbed by @three6sashiaa & featuring art by Pamela & her sons

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Celebrate 3 YEARS of SWEET ABYSS with a WEEKEND of live music, DJs and audiovisual art.

FRIDAY 2-27 @ WOOD STREET GALLERIES
8PM - MIDNIGHT | 21+ | TICKETED $10-$30 (link in bio)

♡ MOURNING [A] BLKSTAR (live!)
♡ RUSSELL E.L. BUTLER X MIRA MIRA (live!)
♡ SLUG BEAT (live!) [Sug + Kiernan Laveaux + Johnny Zoloft]
♡ FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES (dj!)

Hosted by Miss Carrie Sours ♡ Sound by Liftgate ♡ Drinks by TLC Libations ♡ Food by Manduhandu

5:30PM - 8PM | ALL AGES | FREE

♡ DAVIS GALVIN X JULES MALICE [Malzof] (audiovisual installation!)

SATURDAY 2-28 @ PGH NORTHSIDE
5PM - MIDNIGHT | 21+ | $10-30 at door

♡ SOLD
♡ RUSSELL E.L. BUTLER
♡ MIRA MIRA X JOHNNY ZOLOFT
♡ CARRIE SOURS X DAVIS GALVIN X MALZOF

$5 hot plates & soft drinks available

On FRIDAY night, The Wood Street Galleries opens itself up to Sweet Abyss. First from 5:30 - 8 PM, all are welcome to explore the second floor audio-visual installation by Davis Galvin and Jules Malice (Malzof).

Then from 8PM - midnight, it will turn into a 21+ ticketed live music event featuring Mourning [A] BLKstar (live), Russell E.L. Butler x MIRA MIRA (live), Slug Beat (Sug + Kiernan Laveaux + Johnny Zoloft) (live), and Funeral Parade of Roses (DJ). These artists represent a deep range of family that music has brought together inside the Sweet Abyss multiverse over the years, bringing everything from angular industrial rhythms, diasporic electronic illuminations, exploratory realms of fusion, vision, and groove - and as always, the chaotic vagabond spirit of so-called transgender dance music :)

On SATURDAY night, we continue on in this spirit for an evening of DJing at a secret cozy concave. Sweet Abyss residents Carrie Sours x Davis Galvin x Malzof will warm up the space passing the energy to special friends and collaborators in sensuous dancefloor cacophony Johnny Zoloft x MIRA MIRA.

Russell E.L. Butler returns for the second night, this time with DJ selections and stylings immersed in their signature sway and depth, followed by special guest SOLD who will conclude the three-year anniversary weekend with their evocative forays into deep listening in its myriad forms.

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10 years since the first Helltrap Nightmare! A bizarre night in the basement full of chorizo and friendship.

So so SOOOO incredibly proud of @sarahsquirm and everything she’s accomplished in a decade!

Here’s a photo of Clownman performing that night. He’s been missing for many years - if you have any info about his whereabouts, please get in touch.

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The results are in and it turns out music is good, ok?

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